Work on Kannur airport to begin soon (original) (raw)

Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) Special Officer and Managing Director V. Thulasidas has said that the airport project will be completed by 2015 if the works begin in January-February next year.

Briefing the media after a meeting of people’s representatives and officials here on Friday, Mr. Thulasidas said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy would inaugurate the KIAL office at Mattannur on December 6. The flights would take off and land at the airport by 2015 if the construction works could be started in early next year, he said.

Consultancy

The director board of the company had decided to give consultancy for construction of the airport to the Hong Kong-based AECOM Asia, which had been involved with the construction of the airports in Larnaca, Cypres, and New York as also the biggest suspension bridge in China.

Third phase

The third phase land acquisition would be expected to be started in full swing as the major obstacles to acquisition had been settled.

The major hurdle to the acquisition was disputes over value of land, he said adding that the problem was solved through negotiation.

The district-level review committee chaired by the District Collector finalised the rate which had been approved by the Chief Secretary-headed Empowered Committee.

The acquisition would start once the government issued a notification. The third phase acquisition of land was mainly for construction of the second runway at a later stage.

Mr. Thulasidas said that though nearly 25 companies had responded to the tender invitation for the earth works at the project site, only one company was found to have the requisite qualification for the work.

The director board had withheld the award of the work since there was no competitor to participate in the tender procedure. It was now planning to combine both the earth work and construction works for the award.

Rail link

K. Sudhakaran, MP, who attended the meeting, said he would exert pressure on the Railway authorities for considering the proposal for a rail link to the airport site, Mr. Thulasidas said in reply to a question.

A team of Railway officials had visited the site as part of conducting a feasibility study, he said.

The proposal would benefit the Railway as it could handle much of the cargo to and from the airport and transport aviation fuel as the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. would build a fuel storage facility at the airport. The railway link would also benefit tourists in the northern district.

MLAs Sunny Joseph and K.K. Narayanan, former MLA A.D. Musthafa, Mattannur municipal chairman K. Bhaskaran, and KIAL Project Manager M.K.A. Azeez were present at the meeting.

Hong Kong-based company to be work consultant

Hurdles to third phase land acquisition cleared

Published - November 17, 2012 12:00 am IST